After being sworn in as Henderson’s police chief Tuesday afternoon, Billy Bolin repeated many of the same comments he’s made leading up to taking the new role.
Speaking to television news crews, he said that he doesn’t see any big problems with the Henderson Police Department and much of the community policing programs he was a part of as the Evansville Department Police chief for 12 years, HPD is already doing.
Guns ‘n Hoses, Coffee with a Cop and Cops Connecting with Kids, to name a few.
“I don’t see any big changes,” he said, but “I’m always open to new community policing ideas.”
Bolin was sworn in at Tuesday’s Henderson City Commission meeting. It comes after his March 19 appointment contingent upon his meeting all the requirements of Kentucky’s Peace Officer Professional Standards certification.
Bolin had 90 days to meet the POPS standards, and during that time, he acted as a police consultant while former Deputy Chief Bob Shoultz was acting as the interim chief.
On June 12, Bolin met all the standards. The testing Bolin completed on that day all dealt with the physical aspects of POPS certification—running, push-ups, sit-ups—which required the 51-year-old to take on a training regimen.
Tuesday he also said he was impressed with HPD officers. He said they are professionals who instigate projects themselves, such as a Tuesday morning movie viewing at Henderson Showplace Cinema with local kids.
“I see a lot of care and compassion from the officers here,” Bolin said.
He said he’s a sentimental person and part of his reason for getting back into policing—after he finished at EPD early this year—was that he would be able to retire from the place where he started his career.
Bolin served as an officer at HPD from 1995-1998, working alongside current Henderson County Sheriff Chip Stauffer, when both were patrol officers. The officer who trained Bolin then was Shoultz.
“It’s been a full circle moment,” Bolin said.
Another thing he’s spoken of in the past is HPD’s need to continue its recruitment push. He said that current officers are the department’s best method of recruiting. Currently, the department is at 54 officers, Bolin said. Full staffed is 59, he said.
But he did mention one thing he’s not said yet—at least not in the Hendersonian. He plans to move over to the right side of the river soon, though he’ll miss his Evansville home and neighborhood.
He hopes to find a Henderson home in the next few months, if all’s well with the job, he said. He said he believes it’s best for the chief of a department to live in the town which he serves.
“My wife and I have been looking (for places) over here,” he said.